by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
Translation by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942)
Mutability
Language: English
We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon; How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver, Streaking the darkness radiantly! -- yet soon Night closes round, and they are lost for ever: Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings Give various response to each varying blast, To whose frail frame no second motion brings One mood or modulation like the last. We rest. -- A dream has power to poison sleep; We rise. -- One wandering thought pollutes the day; We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep; Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away: It is the same! -- For, be it joy or sorrow, The path of its departure still is free: Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow; Nought may endure but Mutability.
Text Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "Mutability", first published 1816 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Dorothy James (1901 - ?), "Mutability", 1967 [ women's chorus, 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
This text (or a part of it) is used in a work
- by (Robert) Houston Bright (1916 - 1970), "Clouds that veil the midnight moon", published 1971 [ SSA chorus and piano ], stanza 1 of "Mutability" is followed by a stanza by the composer.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Změna (Shelley 1)"
- RUS Russian (Русский) (Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont) , "Изменчивость"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2005-02-23
Line count: 16
Word count: 125
Izmenchivost'
Language: Russian (Русский) after the English
My tochno oblaka vokrug luny polnochnoj. O, kak oni speshat, gorjat, drozhat vsegda, Pronzajut temnotu! - no gasnet svet neprochnyj, Ikh poglotila noch', i net ot nikh sleda. Kak pozabytye my arfy: lad ikh strunnyj Rasstrojen i dajot izmenchivyj otvet. Na rovnyj vzdokh vetrov, pri toj zhe laske lunnoj, Vtorichnykh trepetov, takikh, kak pervykh, net. My spim. - U sna jest' vlast' nam otravit' dremotu. Vstajom. - Odna mechta gnetet nas celyj den'; Lelejem li my smekh, lelejem li zabotu, Khranim li svet v dushe ili pechal' i ten': Net vykhoda dlja nas! - Vse k gibeli stremitsja, Kak polon den' minut, tak zhizn' izmen polna: S grjadushchim proshloje ne mozhet zdes' sravnit'sja, Lish' neizmenna zdes' Izmenchivost' odna.
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Text Authorship:
- by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942), "Изменчивость" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "Mutability", first published 1816
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-10-20
Line count: 16
Word count: 114